How To Score Your Dream Job

I started off my marketing career almost a decade ago as a quiet and fearful intern. After years of climbing the corporate ladder, I learned how to improve my skills, negotiate my salary and most importantly, own my confidence. I have recently accepted a position at a company that has offered me everything I was looking for – a leadership position in a company with values aligned with mine, offering travel, opportunity for growth and a creative work culture. This did not happen by chance, or luck. It took years of hard work, meeting new people, maintaining relationships, making mistakes and choosing the road of resilience after numerous career pitfalls. Here are some of the lessons I learned along the way:

Maintain your biggest asset: relationships Almost every single opportunity I have had has been due to someone in my network. Vancouver is a small, close-knit community, and your reputation follows you. Whether you are on the job, or leaving a job, make sure you consistently act with professionalism and tact. Go out of your way to help others, be kind and make an effort to know your peers. Sure, some you will never see again. But it’s quite probable that one day, one of your past peers will be instrumental in helping you get an opportunity, or they will provide a bad reference and cause you to lose one.

Exit gracefully I’ve worked in many start-up businesses. The fast-pace nature of start-ups is exciting, however, the nature of an early business is often an instability of funding. I’ve watched co-workers get the pink slip, have had to let go of hard-working employees because of budget cuts and have been laid off because of poor company finances. These scenarios never feel good at the time. But in retrospect, in my experience, being laid-off has been one of the best things that ever happened to me professionally, because I always found a better fit afterwards. Understandably, with the emotions, ego and fear of unknown that come from exiting a company, it’s common to not see the future potential. You should fight for your rights and a fair severance, however, taking it personally and lashing out with anger and resentment only harms yourself and burns bridges. Resignation, getting laid off, conflicting with management – these are all things that are just a part of the corporate world. So try to not take things personally and make your exit with professionalism and grace.

Don’t let your phone dictate your attention span Even if you’re a pro at your job, perception rules in the corporate environment. I see this often with younger employees. There is already a stereotype that people of generation Y are A.D.D. ridden. If you’re in this generation, like it or not, the stereotype is already working against you, and you have to put in your time of proving your work ethic and responsibility. Studies show that it takes about 10 minutes for your brain to refocus on a task after your concentration has been disrupted. So if you’re looking down at your phone every few minutes, it’s not possible to be 100% focused and you end up taking longer to do a task. Take breaks in between, but just don’t let your BBM dictate your attention span.

Stop acting entitled One of the biggest complaints I hear regarding the younger generation of workers is their air of entitlement. The reality is, regardless of what generation you come from, nobody owes you anything. There’s no easy way of getting a raise. It’s good old fashioned hard work and backing up your request with your results. If you want a raise, create a plan on how you will take on more, and look at how you can contribute value to a company. Ask yourself, “How can I add to the bottom line or the goals of the company?” These are the metrics that makes the case for a raise, not because you’re feeling broke after taking an expensive vacation. When you approach work with the attitude of consistently going above and beyond, you always win in the end.

Create a resume that stands out

You are at a disadvantage if your resume looks the same as the hundreds of resumes an employer has to sift through. Keep your resume current and invest in making it stand out. If you cannot word your key strengths and value well, consider hiring a copywriter. I recommend a service offered by Loft Resumes. You simply choose one of their templates, submit your resume and in a few days they send you a sleekly designed version. It’s a $99 investment that will make your resume stand out from the rest. A resume is the first part of showing an employer who you are. You want that impression to be good enough that they want to meet you in person.

Amy Chan is a Vancouver blogger. She is the newly appointed Director of Corporate Communications for OncoSec Medical and has been in the marketing and advertising industry for almost 10 years.

This Week's Flyers

Comments

Postmedia is pleased to bring you a new commenting experience. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.